The UAE announced its exit from OPEC+, effective May 1, 2026. The move delivers a significant blow to the oil alliance and its de facto leader Saudi Arabia amid rising regional tensions. The UAE has increasingly clashed with Riyadh over economic policy and the war in Yemen, and Iranian threats have disrupted exports through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles a fifth of the world's oil and gas. The departure represents a political statement as much as an economic recalibration. The UAE said it will continue bringing additional output to market gradually and responsibly.
The State Department is preparing to issue a limited edition passport featuring President Trump's portrait on its inside cover, the first time a sitting American president's image would appear on such a document. The commemorative edition will display Trump's portrait superimposed over the Declaration of Independence with his signature in gold, with only 25,000 copies to be produced. The passport is part of broader 250th anniversary celebrations that have also included a one-dollar coin bearing Trump's image, despite U.S. law generally prohibiting commemorative coins for national anniversaries from carrying portraits of living individuals.
Former FBI Director James Comey has been re-indicted by President Trump's Justice Department on charges related to an Instagram post showing seashells arranged to form "86 47," interpreted as a threat against Trump, the 47th president. Comey deleted the post after being interviewed by Secret Service agents and said he did not realize some people would interpret those numbers as violent. A previous case was dismissed in November when a federal judge ruled the top prosecutor was unlawfully appointed. Trump urged then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey in September; she was replaced as acting AG this month.
Trump joked during King Charles III and Queen Camilla's state visit that his Scottish-born mother had a childhood "crush" on the young Prince Charles. The monarch responded with a nervous laugh and wave. The royal couple received a military ceremony on the South Lawn during their three-day visit, the first by a British monarch to the United States in nearly 40 years. King Charles later addressed a joint session of Congress, only the second British monarch to do so after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991.
Elon Musk filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court on April 26, 2026, seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. Musk, who donated $44 million to OpenAI at its 2015 founding, accuses them of betraying the nonprofit's mission after the company shifted from open-source to for-profit. OpenAI, now valued at over $157 billion, has dismissed the claims as "incoherent" and "frivolous," arguing the lawsuit is driven by competitive jealousy. The trial marks the revival of a legal battle Musk first filed in March 2024 before dropping it without explanation.
India's major airlines Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet warned the government the country's airline industry is on the verge of stopping operations. The Federation of Indian Airlines cited Aviation Turbine Fuel accounting for 40 percent of operational expenses, with domestic prices capped at a Rs 15 per litre increase while international prices rose Rs 73 per litre. The government is weighing a Rs 5,000 crore emergency credit guarantee scheme. Delhi levies 25 percent VAT on jet fuel and Tamil Nadu 29 percent, compounding costs from the prolonged US-Iran conflict.
Morgan McSweeney told the Foreign Affairs Committee that his advice to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador was a "serious error of judgement." He denied bypassing vetting procedures or instructing officials to ignore processes. Sir Philip Barton, the then-top Foreign Office civil servant, testified he was not consulted about the appointment, learning of the decision only on December 15, 2024. McSweeney said the Prime Minister made the final call on a political rather than civil servant appointment. Sir Keir Starmer now faces a parliamentary vote on whether to launch an inquiry into allegations he misled parliament over the saga.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Washington for a state visit marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. President Trump hosted a formal South Lawn ceremony with a 21-gun salute and a review of 300 soldiers. King Charles addressed Congress, declaring that "again and again our two countries have found ways to unite." Tensions shadow the visit: Trump has imposed tariffs on Britain and suggested Canada become the 51st state, even as Charles serves as Canada's head of state, while the Starmer government has shifted toward the European Union.
Trump claimed Tuesday that Iran communicated it is in a "state of collapse" and desperate for the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The US official told Reuters that Trump was dissatisfied with Iran's peace proposal because it failed to address the nuclear program upfront. The planned diplomatic mission to Pakistan was cancelled after Iran's foreign minister departed for Oman and Russia, though Iran submitted an improved proposal minutes after the cancellation was announced. The UAE announced it would exit OPEC starting May 1, reducing the organization to 11 members.
The FCC is preparing to request early renewal reviews of Walt Disney Company's eight owned-and-operated ABC stations, sources familiar with the matter said. The action targets stations in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles that are not normally scheduled for renewal until 2028. Commissioner Anna Gomez, the commission's lone Democrat, sharply criticized the move, calling it "unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere." Legal experts expect extensive litigation raising First Amendment speech protections if the FCC proceeds.
Belarus released Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist for Gazeta Wyborcza who had been sentenced to eight years in 2023 on politically motivated charges, as part of a five-for-five prisoner swap at the Belarus-Poland border. Three Poles and two Moldovans returned from Belarusian custody, while Poland released two Russians, including archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, who had been arrested on Ukrainian-requested charges related to excavations in Crimea. The swap is the latest sign of warming ties between Belarus and the West following the release of 250 political prisoners in March in exchange for the partial lifting of U.S. sanctions.
Anant Ambani, son of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has asked Colombia to halt its planned culling of hippos descended from animals imported by Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. He submitted a proposal on April 28 to relocate roughly 80 hippos to his Vantara animal centre in Gujarat, India. The hippos have proliferated to hundreds along Colombia's Magdalena River, attacking fishermen and causing environmental damage that prompted authorities to consider culling the population. Vantara is located next to the world's largest crude oil refinery.
Spain's unemployment rate climbed to 10.83 percent in the first quarter of 2026, adding 231,500 people to the unemployed as 170,300 positions were lost, with the private sector bearing the brunt of 191,400 job destructions. The INE described the quarterly surge as the sharpest for a first quarter since 2013. Despite the setback, Spain created 527,600 net jobs over the past twelve months and the Q1 unemployment rate remains the lowest since 2008.
OpenAI fell short of internal targets for users and revenue, raising concerns about its ability to fund data-center spending, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. CFO Sarah Friar warned other leaders the company might not be able to pay for future computing contracts if revenue does not accelerate, and missed monthly targets after losing ground to Anthropic in coding and enterprise markets. Friar pushed for spending discipline, creating disagreement with CEO Sam Altman, who called the WSJ report "ridiculous." Corporate AI data-center spending by four major cloud providers could reach $660 billion this year.
Japan Airlines will deploy Unitree humanoid robots at Haneda Airport from May to transport luggage and cargo on the tarmac of the world's busiest airport handling over 60 million passengers annually. The three-year trial programme runs until 2028, addressing chronic labour shortages as Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million inbound tourists last year while needing an estimated 6.5 million foreign workers by 2040. Separately, Toyota is developing Woven City near Mount Fuji, a $10 billion testing ground for robotics and autonomous systems expanding to house 2,000 residents across 294,000 square metres.
An 89-year-old man opened fire at a social security office and courthouse in central Athens on Tuesday, wounding several people with a shotgun before fleeing. He first shot an employee in the leg at the National Social Security Fund offices, then fired at the courthouse where at least three people were taken to ambulances. Police found the shotgun and said the attacker scattered documents at the courthouse, claiming they explained his actions. Gun violence is rare in Greece, where firearms are tightly regulated. Authorities are searching for the suspect.